Chapter Text
Chapter 1
He had heard of the wedding, to be sure. The engagement was short. Then again, royalty had no need to prolong arrangements made out of duty.
Princess Rey Palpatine . The name tasted acrid inside his mouth. Same as the thought of her and that pompous prince in bed on their wedding night-- procreating . He could do it. Run that prince through with his blade. And the next. And the one after that. All of them until they understood that she was to remain untouched by anyone but him.
But he was a changed man now. A man with purpose again. Not distraction. Now that she no longer strutted about his ship as though she owned it.
Yes, the sooner they left Jakku’s ports, the better. An accident, really, that they had depleted every barrel of ale on the eve of such a magnificent wedding.
“Hux,” called Captain Kylo Ren, who gazed out to sea from the dock. “Tell me what I see.”
“Your ship, captain?”
Kylo sighed deeply. “Look again .”
“I see the fastest ship in the realm, the--oh, oh, I see! Right away, captain.”
The ginger-haired man scuttled across the decaying docks to interrogate whoever dared step aboard the Death Star without the captain’s permission. The man carried an air of wealth. Dark-skinned and dressed in expensive layers, the man surveyed the ocean as though it carried a price. Kylo has seen enough of his type. Powerful men unconcerned with the bureaucracy of justice.
He gave Hux another five minutes before boarding his own ship.
“Kylo Ren.” It was the unknown man who spoke, rushing forward to offer his hand.
“ Captain Kylo Ren,” he corrected, ignoring the other man’s outstretched hand. “Let me save you some time. I don’t commission my services to just anyone and I don’t do it cheaply. Who is it you want dead and what are you willing to pay?”
Bowing slightly, the man introduced himself as Finn. “I don’t need anyone dead. I need someone found . If you return her alive, I’m willing to pay you three kyber crystals.”
Kylo straightened at that, anger coiled tightly in the pit of his stomach. “You dare come aboard my vessel--without my allowing it--and now you fling these--these fabrications in my face as though I--”
The words died on his tongue at the sight of three precious, rare crystals held inside Finn’s palm. One an amber yellow of House Skywalker. The second a translucent blue he had last seen hanging from a chain on her throat. The last was unforgivable. Unstable red, almost electric. He’d thought it lost until that very moment.
All he could do was laugh himself hoarse. “You want me to find Rey Palpatine?” he asked Finn. “Let me save you the trouble. She’s inside that castle waiting to wed the false heir of the last Skywalkers.”
Finn stared at Hux with a loaded look. With a jerk of his captain’s head, Hux left them alone on the deck of the ship.
“Sheev Palpatine was found dead last night,” Finn told him. “Rey was taken as well. Everyone in the castle heard screaming but by the time anyone got there, it was too late. They uh, they found”--the man cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable--“blood that may have been hers. Part of her dress was torn off. But I think she’s alive.”
Considering this, Kylo examined the kyber crystals still held in Finn’s open palm. “And who are you to her?”
The man puffed out his chest. “I’m her best friend.”
Oh Rey, what have you gotten yourself into? He didn’t believe for one second that Rey had succumbed to some external force.
“Fine,” said Kylo. “I’ll find this damsel for you. These crystals may be of value, but I do have one more condition to the task on hand. One night with Rey Palpatine.”
Finn looked quite indignant. “She’s a princess ,” he sputtered. “No. Absolutely not.”
He shrugged. “I didn’t say I would ravish her, I said one night where she spends it inside my cabins. She may do what she sees fit. Might very well ravish me , you know. In fact, stay. When I rescue this girl from whatever nefarious villain took her, you can witness how very grateful and wanton she feels toward her rescuer.”
Thus, it was settled. Away the crew prepared to take leave of Jakku, their captain as unconcerned as the day he was born.
Though the man would never admit it, Finn was appalled at the conditions of his crew’s sleeping arrangements and further horrified at the prospect of joining them. Kylo watched Finn try his best to spruce up his hammock, fluffing the threadbare pillow left there by its last owner. As soon as he saw Finn resolve to spend the rest of the night there, Kylo collected Hux and together they plotted over entering the palace in proper clandestine fashion.
Without any living lordships to oversee their staff, Kylo and Hux entered unnoticed.
It was easy, from a political standpoint, to see why old man Palpatine was so concerned with Rey’s progeny. With him dead and Rey gone, who was there but a small council of greedy merchants who knew nothing of Jakku’s true needs?
“This way, Captain.”
They disappeared into a darkened hallway littered with broken glass and fallen items. The sound of curtains swaying in the breeze. Cries from passersby outside the castle. The library where not one, but two crimes were committed. Allegedly.
So this was where Rey spent her evenings with her grandfather. The fireplace still lit, tomes of books covering every inch of wall. On the table between two cushioned seats lay a spilled decanter of whiskey. One glass crushed into the carpet, the other still untouched.
When Kylo saw the smeared blood on the windowsill, he almost laughed. He could picture the way she dipped those thin fingers in blood and wiped her palms across the walls, tearing off strips of her skirt with bare hands. His Rey was clever, if a bit diabolical. A jump from this height was no danger.
He examined the street from the open window.
“Hux, come over here. Tell me, do you see our ship from this view? Where would you go if this was all you could see?”
“Your ship is perfectly hidden from sight. Not a single glimpse of the mast or a flag. But, quite curious, captain, I cannot see Dameron’s ship either. Just yesterday he was docked just there, past the cathedral.”
Kylo cursed. “Hux, back to the ship. We leave straight away--we cannot lose sight of that blasted ship. That wench is on the ship, I just know it.”
“If she’s with Dameron?”
“The imposter dies. He’s no part of any deal I made.”
They took their stolen horses and returned to the docks, Kylo’s scream interrupting the darkening sky. He punched a parked carriage. Of course . He yelled at his own idiocy, tearing apart every basket and crate in sight. Even Hux remained silent, staring out into the sea, gobsmacked.
Because of course their ship was gone, a shrinking prick of wood and flags, two odious figures waving back to them like fools. Finn and the imposter Skywalker Poe Dameron commandeered his ship. His own proper ship.
There he stood, without a ship and without the weight of those three kyber crystals in the palm of his hand. This was no longer a commission to reward himself with Rey’s reaction at having been outsmarted and captured by him . This was personal.